Sadie's Spotlight

May 10, 2022May 11, 2022

Spotlight, Author Interview & Excerpt: Speechless in Achten Tan + Giveaway

Sometimes Magic leaves you…Speechless!

Welcome to the book tour for beautiful fantasy novel, Speechless in Achten Tan by Debbie Iancu-Haddad. Read on for details and a chance to win a fantastic giveaway!

Speechless in Achten Tan (The Sands of Achten Tan #1)
Publication Date: February 22, 2022 (Skullgate Media)
Genre: YA Fantasy

Sometimes Magic leaves you…Speechless!

Eighteen-year-old Mila hasn’t spoken in the five years since she became an Onra, a first level Everfall witch. After failing the test to reclaim her voice and control her magic, her mentor sends Mila to Achten Tan – City of Dust – a dangerous desert town, built in the massive ribcage of an extinct leviathan.
To reclaim her power, Mila must steal a magical staff capable of releasing it, from the sky-high lair of the Bone Master, Chief Opu Haku.

Her only resources are the magical luminous elixirs of the cursed caverns where she grew up, and a band of unlikely allies; a quirky inventor, a giant-ant rider, a healer, a librarian’s assistant, a Tar-tule rider and the chief’s playboy son.

But in the City of Bones, enemies & friends are not who they seem and trusting the wrong person can be deadly.

If Mila fails she will never speak again and her bones may be added to the wasteland.

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Excerpt

This time, I have to succeed.

A glimmer of light parts the mist rising from the Everfall, the massive waterfall tumbling from the plateau above Achten Tan into the underground caverns where we live. The waterfall is steeped in magic. To pass my test, I must harness its power, and pause the mighty flow for one brief moment.

The cool spray wicks my skin with moisture as the sun’s first rays creep across the falls. I raise my hands to focus my magic and breathe deep, concentrating on a stripe of rainbow-colored sunlight refracting through the vapor. The water on my skin evaporates as it warms, humming with power.

I gather the threads of ether to me, weaving them one by one into a spell. I cannot speak it out loud. Since the magic took my voice five years ago, it has reduced me to hand signals, gestures, and the words tattooed on my skin. But if the magic obeys me today, I will ascend to the next level, and be able to speak once more.

STOP. I command the water. The water swirls and writhes like a hissing serpent, escaping my hold. The mighty flow crests momentarily, building into a wave, shooting up above the falls when it should fall downward. Joy and hope flood my chest.

The gathered spectators gasp.

Even at this early hour, I have an audience: other hopefuls, their families, and friends. The other girls are taking their test for the first, or second, or at worst, the third time. This is my fourth try. A fourth failure might drive me to throw myself off the Everfall.

It’s a truly spectacular way to die.

I should know, it’s how my brother died.

But I don’t want to die. And if I had a choice, I definitely wouldn’t jump. As it is, being this close to the edge of the falls makes my knees tremble. I just want to pass my trial and ascend from Onra, first-level cavern witch, to Misra, the second level, trusted to use her voice and powers.

Distracted by the crowd—or the wind, or my frail ability—the water breaks from my grasp, collapsing over the falls with a mighty slap, blowing wind and water back into my face like the insult it is.

I raise my dripping face to view the people gathered beyond the falls. I spot my parents’ disappointed faces, my father clutching my mother’s shoulder in support. My Nora’s weathered visage rarely shows emotion, but I can tell her discontent by the tightening of her jaw, the whitening of her knuckles on her staff. And behind them, sweet Geb, standing a head taller than the rest. He wanted me to succeed so badly. His golden eyes find mine, holding nothing but sympathy. Still, looking at them all, I truly contemplate throwing myself over the edge, rather than having to face them as a failure once more.

I shake my head to dislodge such thoughts. I can’t put them through that again.

Instead, I swallow my shame, hold back my tears, and flee.

Available on Amazon!

Author Interview:

1. Tell us a little about how this story first came to be.

On May 27th 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 lockdown, while we were all sheltering in place and going out of our minds, Chris Van Dyke posted a message on Twitter, “Does anybody want to play a game with this collaborative writing idea I have?” 30 different writers, scattered from Dubai to Alaska, answered the call. Over the next month we built a world together and then each wrote stories that took place in it. “Speechless” started out as an 1800 word short story in Skullgate’s inaugural anthology, “Achten Tan land of Dust and Bone” which came out on August 17, 2020, and also included Kamal and D’or’s story `Devastation song`. During NaNoWriMo 2020, I expanded “Speechless” into an 85,000-word novel.

2. What, if anything, did you learn when writing the book?

That plotting is not the killjoy I expected it to be, that I can write 85,000 words in a month, and that having a supportive writing partner to read the chapters as I was writing them during the process is super helpful.

3. What surprised you the most in writing it?

I always go blank towards the end of a book, even if I have an idea of the ending. In this case the ending was much longer than I expected, as if the characters kept saying “we’re not ready yet.”

4. If it’s not a spoiler, what does the title mean?

Speechless in Achten Tan is about a witch who can’t talk, who travels to the desert city of Achten Tan to get her voice back. Its also a tiny homage to “Sleepless in Seattle”.

5. Were any of the characters inspired by real people? If so, do they know?

Not really, no.

6. Do you consider the book to have a lesson or moral?

I’m pretty sure its about finding your voice in a more literal sense and standing up for who you are and what you want. Its also about there being power in friendship and the connections we make with others.

7. What is your favorite part of the book?

The heist scene with all of the characters sharing mind potion and talking in each other’s thoughts. Its where they each express themselves to the max and friendships and romance become impossible to hide.

8. Which character was most challenging to create? Why?

Mila, my main character can’t talk. I had to approach each scene with that in mind and figure out how her inability to speak would influence the way she coped with each situation.

9. What are your immediate future plans?

At the moment I’m working on a sequel to Speechless in Achten Tan called “The Bone Master”, which will delve more deeply into Kaii’s story. “Tar & Bone” – which is a prequel about Kamal and D’or as kids, and a YA sci fi series about a teen eco-terrorist on a suicide mission and the girl he meets on a faraway space station. So, I’m mostly editing, talking to my cover artist and juggling all four projects.

About the Author

Debbie Iancu-Haddad is a Jewish Israeli author living in Meitar in the Negev Desert.

She spends her time taking part in Anthologies (seven to date with two more on the way), writing VSS on Twitter, and buying way too much stuff online. Her goal is to promote body positive characters and include characters dealing with physical challenges. #ownvoices

For her day job, she gives lectures on humor, laughter yoga workshops and chocolate workshops, and sees how often she can make her two teenagers roll their eyes.

Debbie Iancu-Haddad | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Giveaway:

Click the link below for a chance to win a copy of Speechless in Achten Tan and a $25 Amazon e-Gift Card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Tour Schedule

May 9^th

R&R Book Tours (Kick-Off)

Reads & Reels (Spotlight)

I Love Books & Stuff (Spotlight)

Liliyana Shadowlyn (Spotlight)

Jessica Belmont (Review)

FUOnlyKnew (Spotlight)

May 10^th

Sadie’s Spotlight (Interview)

@books_inthecity (Review)

Tabithabouldin (Review)

B is for Book Review (Spotlight)

@booksintheirnaturalhabitat (Spotlight)

May 11^th

Riss Reviews (Review)

@takealookatmybookshelf (Review)

I Smell Sheep (Spotlight)

Ravenz Reviews (Spotlight)

May 12^th

Cheryl’s Book Nook (Review)

@beastreader

@cleoniki.books (Review)

@mels_booksandhooks (Review)

See Sadie Read (Review)

Breakeven Books (Spotlight)

May 13^th

@amber.bunch_author (Review)

Bunny’s Reviews (Review)

The Faerie Review (Spotlight)

Book Tour Organized By:

R&R Book Tours

Spotlight, Author Interview & Excerpt: Speechless in Achten Tan + Giveaway

May 5, 2022May 4, 2022

Spotlight: Sally’s Magic River, by H. Franks Gaertner

Welcome to the book tour for Sally’s Magic River by H. Frank Gaetner. Read on for more info!

Sally’s Magic River
by H. Franks Gaertner
Publication Date: July 26th, 2021
Genre: YA Fantasy

Sally and the Magic River is a magical story of a young girl’s triumph over extreme adversity. Its various scenes are meant to evoke powerful, mental images with parallels to movies such as “The Wizard of Oz”, “Peter Pan”, “The River Wild” and “Gravity”.

It’s fascinating how one’s tragedy can turn into a defining moment. A single misfortune can fuel your desire to be better and ignites your vision. This is what Sally experienced. THIS IS WHAT WE NEED TO EXPERIENCE.

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Excerpt

The Hyundai Elantra looked like it had been in a demolition derby. Its jacked-up, deranged occupants had just robbed a Canejo Valley liquor store. The store’s burglar alarm brought cops to the scene in time to see the getaway vehicle disappear into a nearby residential area. A cacophony of bullhorns, racing engines and squealing tires pursued the menace through a crosshatched neighborhood of caromed parked cars, flattened hedges and trenched yards. The police were about to trap the intruder when it bolted onto Lynn Road and headed west toward the Ventura-Freeway and an off-ramp crowded with biotechnologists on their workday morning commute from Agoura Hills and Westlake Village. And it’s here, at this exit, where fate decided to have its way. Determined to escape, the disaster on wheels took the only way out, the wrong way.

Meanwhile, a mother and her ten-year-old daughter were traveling north from their home in Beverly Hills. The girl sat straining forward in the front seat of her family’s classic Fleetwood-Brougham Cadillac anxiously anticipating a visit with her grandfather, a citrus rancher

in the Santa Clara River Valley. Dad was away on business, so the two “women of the house” were on their own. The ten-year old was very fond of her grandfather, and enjoyed helping him in his workshop where he now spent most of his day making beautiful mahogany and ash C1 racing canoes. Such special moments with her grandfather and the solitude of the groves were the main things, but there was also one other thing, the enchanting and unpredictable Santa Clara River with its flood-plain sanctuary of rabbits, squirrels, coyotes, crows, and geese.

The mother knew her precocious daughter was more than ready to arrive at their intended destination. The child’s upturned nose, imp-like smile, and bright green eyes made her look like a pixie imitating a race horse waiting for its starting gate to open. Earlier that morning she had wasted no time. She inhaled her breakfast, set her auburn hair in pigtails, and threw on a red checkered shirt, overalls, and hiking boots to certify that she was ready to “work” on the ranch as soon as they arrived. So, as fate would have it, the two travelers were buckled into the family’s mega Cadillac by 7:30 am, and by 8:10 were entering that portion of the Ventura Freeway that passes through the city of Thousand Oaks.

Already scarred and now re-scarred by numerous glancing blows from its previous neighborhood chase and its reckless game of chicken up the off-ramp, the erratically driven wreck shot onto the freeway directly into the path of oncoming commuter traffic. Gaining speed to over ninety miles per hour, the motorists’ worst nightmare crossed four lanes of traffic and, since miracles do happen, managed to reach the emergency shoulder adjoining the center divider. Seconds later, threading its way between oncoming traffic and the center divider, it successfully arrived at the freeway’s next exit, the Moorpark Road underpass. But with its luck running out, “success” was to be short lived. As the Elantra crossed the underpass, a Toyota Celica, which had been attempting to avoid a rear end collision with the car ahead of it, spun out of control, only to be rear-ended itself by an eighteen- wheel Freightliner. The Toyota, partially airborne from the impact, continued its amazing thrill ride up and over the freeway guard-rail to the street below, where, in a Gallagher fantasy of gigantic proportions, it landed upright on a flatbed truck of watermelons where it began to head east, its new, unscheduled, direction. From Lynn Road to Moorpark Road, motorists, many in cars totaled from multiple collisions, sat unharmed. One would think every one of these fortunate, uninjured travelers would be giving thanks, simply grateful to be alive, but a few were way too busy fumbling with their dash-board mounted GoPro™ cameras to be so distracted.

At the same time the impacted big-rig, twisting violently, suddenly jackknifed across two lanes of traffic in a cloud of burning rubber and smoking brakes. With effective reaction times reduced to fractional seconds, a new group of hapless drivers began to form a chain of smashed fenders, damaged egos, and whiplash-injury lawsuits as Mercedes after BMW, after Jaguar found its mark on the luxury car of the wealthy biotechnology employee ahead of it.

The Elantra, having navigated four lanes of oncoming and a mile of narrow, center-divider emergency-lane, suddenly came into the Cadillac’s view. And then, just as suddenly, it reacted to the out-of-control semi by hard- glancing the concrete retaining wall to meet head-on the Cadillac and its ranch-bound human cargo. The heavyweight car propelled itself forward, merging the Elantra’s engine with front and rear seats and redirecting the motion of the compacted mass in the opposite, but now right, direction down the freeway. The collision launched both mother and daughter forward as if the two had been shot from guns. But, before their seat belts could carry the full burden of forward motion, the vintage Cadillac’s newly retrofitted airbags exploded from their housings directly into the path of the would-be human projectiles. Traffic in both directions came to a complete stop as flying pieces of metal and glass made their way back to earth.

A surreal silence followed the mayhem. For some, the silence was interrupted by an appropriate heart-pounding, adrenaline-inflicted, involuntary, flight-response. For one, the silence momentarily intensified into a darkness more complete than any found in the deepest cavern.

Available on Amazon

About the Author

I am a retired molecular genetics scientist who has authored and co-authored well over 50 patents and academic publications. Sally’s Magic River is my only work of fiction. I wrote the story over twenty years ago and first published it as Sally and the Magic River in 2014. I am republishing the story in this new format with its new cover and title, Sally’s Magic River. Why? Because I think Sally’s story may turn out to be the most important thing I’ve written.

H. Frank Gaertner

Book Tour Schedule

May 2^nd

R&R Book Tours (Spotlight)

Reads & Reels (Spotlight)

Nesie’s Place (Spotlight)

@fle_d (Spotlight)

May 3^rd

Liliyana Shadowlyn (Review)

@itsabookthing2021 (Review)

Breakeven Books (Spotlight)

Rambling Mads (Spotlight)